One of the North Sea’s oldest discoveries is set to be decommissioned as part of a multimillion-pound project.
Centrica's Ann field, where the North Sea’s 10th exploration well was drilled more than 50 years ago, has been shut in and the subsea infrastructure will be removed.
Ann's removal is part of Centrica’s plans to decommission the "A Fields" in the Southern North Sea, which also include the Audrey, Alison and Annabel fields.
The first well at the A Fields was drilled in 1966, with first gas produced via Audrey in 1988. After producing nearly 1 Tcf of gas, production from the A Fields came to an end last year.
The fields, 55mi off the coast of Norfolk, England, were produced using two platforms, two templates, four wellhead protection structures and one manifold, all of which are due to be removed in 2018-2023 under plans due to be submitted by Centrica. The A Fields’ 23 wells will also be plugged and abandoned.
In total, nearly 9000-tonne of infrastructure will be removed, including the 2300-tonne and 2100-tonne platforms, with more than 95% of the material expected to be recycled.
The decommissioning program for a wellhead protection structure at Ann has already been approved by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, while decommissioning programs for the remaining infrastructure will be submitted in the coming months following public consultations.